Every Sunday this November, Belles Hot Chicken will pair its notoriously spicy fried chicken with Susucaru, the highly sought-after natural wine from Sicily’s Mount Etna region. Susu Sundays is Belles co-owner Morgan McGlone’s way of sharing his collection of the 2017 vintage with Sydney and Melbourne, pairing it with his Nashville-style fried chicken in what he believes is a perfect match. Belles roll its chicken in dry spices after it’s fried, offering punters five levels of spice that range from “Southern” to “Really Fuckin Hot”.
The Belles team, known for its focus on natural wine, regard Susucaru, famous for its underlying minerality and smoky finish, as the “perfect chicken wine”.
“The super mellow Susucaru and its fullness of flavour really measures up to the spiciness of the chicken,” McGlone says. “Light reds are perfectly suited to the warm Australian climate and who we are.”
The chef’s love of fried chicken with natural wine stems from his time cooking in Nashville where he first started playing around with the combo, pairing the city’s famed hot chicken with white wine from the Loire Valley.
New York chef-turned-rapper Action Bronson experienced Belle’s Hot Chicken mixed with the intense and often unfamiliar flavours of natural wine while filming his television show Fuck That’s Delicious in 2016; it’s a combination he’s praised frequently since.
McGlone got his hands on a large stash of the coveted Sicilian wine when he visited winemaker Frank Cornelissen’s vineyards in Sicily last month with Clayton Wells of Sydney’s Automata and A1 Canteen.
The special collection of Susucaru will be available at seven of the Belles Hot Chicken stores in Victoria and New South Wales, with up to 36 bottles available in each store either by the glass for $17 or by the bottle ($100).
Susu Sundays, every Sunday in November, Belles Hot Chicken Stores excluding Collins Square in Victoria. For location details and opening hours, see belleshotchicken.com. No bookings required.
